Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Persimmon spice muffin recipe

Last week we had dinner with Michael's cousin-in-law Julia, who has a big Fuyu persimmon tree in her yard in Orange County. She gave us a bag of hard orange fruit to take home. I discovered the next day that no one in my house likes persimmons. Uh oh.

I left a bag of persimmons hanging from my front doorknob for Dorothy from Shockingly Delicious; she left a tiny loaf of banana bread in exchange. (I love the barter system.) But I kept back a few to experiment with. And I'm glad I did, because these persimmon spice muffins are really good.

Fuyu persimmons are most often eaten raw, peeled and sliced like apples. So I pulled out my trusty apple cake recipe and went to work. In addition to cinnamon, I put in nutmeg, ginger and cloves, and I threw in a little wheat germ for good measure. The result: a moist, spicy muffin that smells and tastes like fall.

Persimmon spice muffins (makes 2 dozen)

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/3 cups vegetable oil (preferably canola or grapeseed)

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

6 firm Fuyu persimmons

1/2 cup wheat germ

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 24-cup muffin tin (or two 12-cup tins) with cooking spray, or line them with paper muffin liners.

Put the oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla into the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Turn it on and beat the contents until the mixture is lemon-yellow and light, about 4-5 minutes. Turn the mixer to low and gradually add the dry ingredients, mixing only until the flour mixture is incorporated.

Peel the persimmons. For this recipe you want the persimmons in very small pieces; the easiest thing is to cut them into chunks and whizz them in the food processor for a few seconds. If you don't want to get out the food processor, you can grate them by hand, but I think you'll find that frustrating and perhaps dangerous for your knuckles, as the pieces are relatively small to start with. As a last resort, chop finely with a large knife. Add the chopped persimmons and wheat germ to the batter, and stir to incorporate.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin tins. Bake about 25 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes in the pan, then take the muffins out and finish cooling them on a rack. Serve at room temperature.

18 comments:

What a great idea Erika! I am going to try these as soon as I can get my hand on some of those gorgeous persimmons. They are such a pretty fruit! Thank you for sharing. I hope that you are having a great Wednesday.

I buy (and forage) a lot of persimmons this time of year. We always eat them sliced and raw and love them that way. But every year I always think I need to cook something with them. But never do. This is so tempting. GREG

My Grandmother made the best apple pies ever, her secret was tenderizing the apple slices on the stove top with sugar and spices, then baking in the pie crust. Sounds like this can be done for the Fuyu persimmons as well in what ever recipe one is trying to use

I got persimmons in my CSA box and had no idea what to do with them, so I made these muffins. They were PHENOMENAL. I make a lot of muffins and these were some of the best I've ever made. I'm going to add some chopped walnuts for crunch next time I get persimmons.

Anon - I'm so glad you liked them! I don't put nuts in my muffins because my kids' school is nut-free and I want to be able to slip them into lunchboxes, but yes, you should absolutely add nuts if you like them. Whoo hoo, your comment made my day!

What a fantastic way to use persimmons! As I've mentioned before, I have an International Mkt. across the street from me and have been playing around with exotic fruits and vegetables. I love the idea of the persimmons in muffins (one of my favorite quick breads/desserts), especially with the nuttiness and texture of the wheat germ! Bookmarked this recipe!